Life on the COS front

A new Speaker makes for encouraging news.

I’m not going to engage in the hyperbole of saying it’s our last hope, but there is merit in the idea of a Convention of States in order to limit our federal government from without. (We found out once again with the TEA Party that it can’t happen from within. All we got was excuses.)

But as I learned from COS Action President Mark Meckler:

Before going to Congress, (Speaker Mike Johnson) served as a State Representative in Louisiana, where he provided compelling testimonies on the floor leading up to the state’s passage of the Convention of States Resolution.

He powerfully stated that the federal government has grown too large and is doing far more than the Founders intended or designed it to do.

He explained that Article V was given to us as a safeguard in the Constitution, reserving power for the people so that the states would have the final say.

He explained that when the federal government grew too big and was out of control — as he believes it is today — there would be no other way to limit it.

It’s good to have someone who served at the state level in such a way as the Congressional leader, since they’ve seen that side of the equation.

And it’s also good to have that sort of passionate advocate of state’s rights in Congress. But the problem (as, again, we saw with the TEA Party) is that people get swamp fever once they reach the hallowed halls of Congress. One example is the representative who serves my neighbors a couple miles down the road, Maryland’s Andy Harris. Good guy, generally votes the correct way as far as I’m concerned, but when his self-imposed twelve year term limit came up he said, “nope, I’m running again.” As far as I know, Andy’s going for term number eight next year but has two primary opponents to split his opposition vote.

So if you can’t trust Congress, who can you trust? Here’s an idea, also from COS:

In 2020, we got a phone call from a COS supporter in Harris County, Texas. The county needed to recruit 800 election judges within 2.5 weeks and wanted COS activists to get involved.

We immediately sprung into action. We quickly put together scripts, telepatriot missions, emails, and texts for a peer-to-peer text messaging campaign. It was a well-oiled machine designed to spread the word and move like-minded patriots into positions as election judges.

(…)

Then after the election, several of our election judges said they were noticing discrepancies happening inside the polling locations. So we had them create affidavits and gave them to a trusted senator in the legislature. Then we asked other election judges who had noticed issues to do the same.

The senator’s office was quickly flooded with 300 affidavits of discrepancies witnessed!

He and his staff immediately sprung into action, putting together legislation that our activists then lobbied through the state legislature. Several bills were passed to make elections more free and fair, including making the ERIC database illegal in the state of Texas.

It’s more exciting to me because of their next target.

Now, in Ohio, a special election is quickly approaching in November of 2023 — that’s next month.

Once again, our activists have the opportunity to work as guardians of free and fair elections by serving as election officials in three hotspots for discrepancies in Ohio — Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati.

Following the same model we used in Texas, we have located thousands of COS petition signers that live within those target counties and are mobilizing other volunteers to contact them via phone calls, texts, and emails, funneling them into paid positions as polling judges.

But here’s the even bigger piece of the strategy… once you serve as a polling judge for two elections, you are eligible to become a voting location manager.

These are the people who are responsible for handling the voting results and handing them in for each location, ensuring that ballots are securely delivered.

Michael, we believe this is the key to ensuring that our elections are free and fair.

Because our grassroots network is organized in every single county across the nation, we have the ability to repeat this model in any state or county. This could be vitally important leading up to our next presidential election, which is looming on the horizon.

Hello, Delaware? New Castle County?

It’s an effort that state GOP Chair Julianne Murray should be down with, since she believed there was a lot of funny business in the 2020 election that she helped clean up. Just imagine if they had good signature verification on absentee ballots.

But they also have to be forceful folks who won’t take no for an answer, and street smart. Basically it’s like going into the lion’s den. And we know we’re going to be accused of disenfranchising folks, particularly those who vote from nursing homes and less wealthy neighborhoods.

Don’t forget, either, that the COS enabling legislation will likely be on the Delaware General Assembly docket in January. I wouldn’t expect it to pass this time, but if they don’t stick it in a desk drawer somehow the vote will be public and we’ll know who has to go in twenny-fo, at least for the Senate. (Those who are up in 2024, assuming they run again:

• Darius Brown (District 2) - DAP lifetime rating 12

• Tizzy Lockman (District 3) - DAP lifetime rating 5

• Laura Sturgeon (District 4) - DAP lifetime rating 5

• Russ Huxtable (District 6) - no DAP rating yet, but has zero correct votes so far in this term

• Stephanie Hansen (District 10) - DAP lifetime rating 5

• Bryan Townsend (District 11) - DAP lifetime rating 6

• Eric Buckson (District 16) - no DAP rating yet, but was 12 correct of 27 in prospective DAP votes for 2023-24

• Trey Paradee (District 17) - DAP lifetime rating 9

• David Wilson (District 18) - DAP lifetime rating 60

• Bryant Richardson (District 21) - DAP lifetime rating 65

Lifetime rating is on a 0-100 scale, with 100 being most conservative.)

Worthy of note: Buckson and Richardson are co-sponsors of the COS resolution (SCR100), with Senator Dave Lawson of District 15 the lead sponsor.

So that’s what’s going on with the fine COS folks. There are a lot of people at the periphery of power who just need a spark to set them off.

And don’t forget: you can also Buy Me a Coffee, since I have a page there now.